Confusion Starts with C
by hedgehogthewriter
Summary: Simon and Clary are best friends, and when Simon starts dating a new girl, he's anxious for her and Clary to meet.


**So I always try to explain the scenario for my fics because they usually don't make a lot of sense. This one is not canon, but it COULD have been before the books/show/movie start. It's basically when Simon and Clary were just friends and in this story, Simon started dating a new girl and Clary is about to meet her for the first time. Things don't exactly go as planned. I hope you like it!**

"So we're all set for dinner tonight, right?" Simon's voice wavered on the other side of the phone call. Clary knew he had been planning this night for so long, so Clary could meet Simon's new girlfriend, Caroline. Clary didn't really know why Simon was so nervous about it, but she had been trying to do everything she could to ease his fears.

"Yes, the reservation is booked, and I am totally free tonight. Stop worrying so much. Everything will be fine," Clary replied soothingly.

Simon sighed. "I know. I just want everything to be perfect. I really want you and Caroline to get along."

"If you like her, then I'm sure I will, too."

Simon paused, and Clary imagined he was nodding, even though she couldn't see him. "Right. Everything will be fine. Thanks so much, Clary." Simon hung up the phone after that.

Clary sighed. She actually was really excited to meet Simon's girlfriend. They'd been dating for two weeks, and it just hadn't been convenient for Clary to meet her at any time during those two weeks, even though she and Simon had gotten together on many occasions. Clary and Caroline just had too conflicting schedules to work out a time to meet.

Clary was also happy that Simon was dating someone. He hadn't dated someone for so long before Caroline, and Clary just wanted Simon to be happy. Well, there was that small achy feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought of Simon dating, but she just accounted that to worrying for Simon about the relationship not working out.

Nevertheless, Clary was excited for dinner.

So later that night, she found herself waiting outside the restaurant they'd chosen to eat at. She was only a few minutes early, so she would have expected Simon to already be there, but she didn't mind waiting. She looked down at her phone so that she didn't appear to be just standing around doing nothing, when she heard someone call out her name.

She looked up to see Simon walking down the street, hand in hand with a girl who Clary assumed was Caroline.

Clary watched as Caroline approached, and noticed Caroline was appraising her similarly as well. Caroline was much shorter than Simon, with a friendly face and fiery red hair. She looked… a lot like Clary actually.

Clary noticed the moment Caroline came to that same conclusion, just as she and Simon had reached Clary in front of the restaurant. Caroline's easy smile fell to a frown.

Caroline turned to face Simon. "This is Clary?" She asked with a sharp edge to her voice.

Simon's brow furrowed. "Yeah, of course. Why?"

Caroline pulled her hand from Simon's grasp and slapped him across the face. Clary winced at the sound that the impact made. Simon just stood there gaping, looking confused, as Caroline turned and walked away.

Simon turned, wide-eyed, to look at Clary. "What was that?"

Clary just raised an eyebrow at him. "You know you're an idiot sometimes, Simon."

"What? The only thing I've ever done wrong by her was that I called her Clary once. But that was only one time! And she said it was no big deal!"

Clary gaped at him. "You called her Clary once?" She asked incredulously.

Simon shrugged slowly. "Is it really that bad? The names are kind of similar, they both start with C. It's a simple mistake!"

Clary groaned and thumped the heel of her hand against the side of Simon's head. "That makes you an even bigger idiot than before! First of all, you don't call your girlfriend by another girl's name. That's the first rule in the book. No girl wants to be confused with another girl by her boyfriend. She was probably cool with it at first because she's a reasonable person and didn't care all that much. But when she saw me in person… I mean we look just alike."

Simon snorted. "You don't look that much alike."

"We're both short, both have red hair… if I didn't know any better… I'd say you were… in love with me or something." Clary, even though she was mostly joking with Simon, found that she couldn't meet his gaze as she voiced the accusation.

Simon paused—for too long. Clary looked up at him, expecting him to be silently laughing at how ridiculous she was being—of course he couldn't be in love with her. Right?

At seeing Simon's serious—possibly inquisitive—look on his face, Clary was no longer certain that Simon didn't have any romantic feelings for her.

"Clary…" Simon mumbled, looking guilty and worried about Clary's response to whatever he was trying to tell her.

"What?" Clary gasped. "You don't… I mean you can't! You just… you're dating Caroline for crying out loud!"

Simon gave a weak laugh. "I think that ship's sailed."

"Even so, you _were_ dating her!" Clary accused.

"I never should've dated her. I only decided to start dating her because I thought you would never agree to go out with me. I guess subconsciously I chose her because she looked like you, but I swear that was never my intention. I—I'm in love with you, Clary. But I truly never meant to hurt Caroline."

Clary nodded slowly. "I didn't know you felt that way about me," she muttered.

"I don't know how you didn't. But now that you know, we can just forget it. I'll try to get over it and find a girl who doesn't look like you," Simon stated.

"No. I mean you don't have to… forget about it," Clary said.

"I don't… I mean you… It's—we're…" Simon babbled before he cleared his throat and shook his head. "So what do we do now?"

Clary shrugged and shared a conspiratorial smile with Simon. "Well we have a reservation at this restaurant. It would be a shame to waste it."

Simon smiled back at her. "It would be a terrible shame to waste a dinner reservation," he agreed. He held out his arm for Clary. "Shall we?"

Clary hooked her arm through Simon's. "We shall," she responded, and they made their way into the restaurant.

 **Please read/review! Let me know what you think!**


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